Feb 22, 2009 8:38 AM

Ok, maybe I am a little perturbed about this issue. Overall the experience here has been pretty awesome. I had a lot complicated issues solved through the community, but here's the deal. I am little upset that CS doesn't have a way to split royalty checks between two authors. I am a co-author of a book I am about to publish here in a month or so, but they do not give you an option where you and your co-author can split the checks. Now some of you are probably saying well just send him his money when the checks come in and that's that. Well that does make sense, but when taxes come rolling around whether filing monthly, quarterly or yearly, it is easier for both of us to file separately as earned income rather than me trying to figure out all this crap together, because we donate a certain part of our sales to a major conservation group. For me it just make more sense for us to split the costs of that and be able to be even all the way around in taxes. I hope someone can understand what I am getting at, which is why don't they add a way to to split a 50/50 royalties between 2 authors, or find away for multiple authors to do the same. Also, just a quick note, having a paypal or other payment group available for royalties would be good too. I hope all this info isn't on here somewhere where I don't look foolish, but I can't find any. So what how do you guys and dolls feels?

I don't think it should be CreateSpace's responsibility to divide checks. They are here for us to self-publish and in order to keep our prices down, we take added responsibility for the creation and promotion of our books. There's no reason why we shouldn't have the responsibility of handling dividing our payments to whomever we choose.

You could have the checks sent to an accountant and have the accountant split them.

I understand where you come from, but I never said that I or anyone else for that matter wouldn't or shouldn't take the responsibility of self promoting and other aspects that we, as the authors have to deal with. This is a POD company and not a traditional publisher, which there is an obvious difference. To be honest what I wrote wasn't a real complaint per say but an obvious inconvenience to those who have multiple authors on a single project. I am not knocking Create Space or any author in this community board, or anything else. They do a descent job with customer care, they offer things that others "might" charge for, and so on. All I was saying was that not all projects have single authors for every project. Now to compare just a little LuLu and CS. Lulu has the ability to pay royalties straight to an authors Paypal account, as of right now, CS doesn't. Just having this option would cure this, because then the author receiving the money can forward the funds where they need to go and everyone files their taxes without a problem. I did not put down CS, I was merely asking a question of why. Not everyone understands all the things involved with 1099 or how to split the royalties or even how to split the royalties and having to take a percentage out before distributing them to where they go. If I or anyone else can afford an accountant to handle royalties, then go for it. Not all of us are, or have the option to do this. And, besides if I need an accountant to help me with royalty checks, I probably be publishing through a traditional publisher (making tons of money) than POD company. CS wants to be the best, then they should offer the best services. The only reason why LuLu costs so darn much is they offer a lot of services that CS does not and because they don't want to lose money anywhere they charge more on their books as well. I have an account there and have taken a look at everything. CS doesn't have to charge more for the book process (meaning keeping the same process and steps they have now), but charge more for the others services they provide. BUT CS is better for what I need to use CS for, so I am better off here. I mean a 70 page, color 6x9 book here on CS is about $5.00 a book and on LuLu it's $18. Obviously CS is more affordable in my opinion and I am thankful for it. I just like to see as a suggestion that for multiple author projects have a way to divide the funds, if this option never will come arise, then maybe a way we can receive payments via PayPal or alike. I am sure that others feel the same I do. Having this option would open new doorways for more people, not only myself, but others out there. Just think how many people out there own and use a PayPal acount and are probably writers, video creators, etc. Thousands, if not in the millions mark. If you are an EBAY user, most like you have a PayPal account. AND those numbers CS won't ignore, deny or let go of.

I was just using Paypal as an example; as I have it and use it. But that would be a great convenience as well if it were Paypal. They can use another just as good company that does the very same thing. Also, with all those people who have Paypal, it is also an opportunity for Amazon to get more customers. I see rival companies sometimes use each other for whatever benefit they can receive. LuLu is a competitor to CS but the still use Amazon to post their books and stuff. There are others out there that do the same. They might have to lose a little, but look at how much they gain. And with two huge companies hungry for money, especially Amazon.com and Ebay, I figured that CS would want to bank on EBAYs hard work or use another company to send funds like Paypal to compete.

I'll agree with you about having a PayPal option. That would be convenient. I actually use my PayPal account more than I do my bank account. I have a few advertising companies that pay me through PayPal and I have a PayPal debit card.

CS might should look at value-added options in the future where they can charge for the service, in which your suggestion on offering to split payments would be a good recommendation for them. In the immediate future, CS needs to focus on correcting common problems that many of us encounter. Their customer support is slow, but they have addressed any problems I have raised with them.

Some of the problems I have encountered are:

1) The description of my book did not contain paragraph breaks when submitted to Amazon, so my description ran together. It looked unprofessional. CS contacted Amazon and had this corrected within a few days.

2) While minor, my book image on Amazon was cropped incorrectly. I haven't raised this issue, as it's minor and I don't think anyone other than myself would notice.

3) One of my orders was taking longer than usual to print and ship. After contacting CS, my order was printed and shipped the day they responded to me (two day response).

4) The incorrect version of my book was submitted to Amazon's "Search Inside" feature, which was a huge deal for me. I had a misspelling on the back cover, a change on the copyright page, and a modified front cover. I had made these changes and ordered a second proof before giving the go-ahead to publish my book. My proof came back correct and regular orders were printed with the correct version. It was only the "Search Inside" version that was incorrect. I received a response from customer support within two days, but was told my issue was being escalated. It took another day or two for someone else to contact me. They sincerely apologized for the error, told me that it was a combination of automated and human error, and that they were contacting Amazon to have my book's "Search Inside" feature expedited with the correct copy. They acknowledged it would still take a couple weeks to show the correct version, but it is better than having to wait for the normal eight weeks.

5) Some of the books I order end up having the corners of the book damaged during shipment. The damages are minor, but they are still damages. I would like to see some type of improvement in packaging the books.

A feature I would like to see is the ability to have all my books appear on one CS store instead of having only an individual CS store for each of my books. Right now I don't advertise my CS store partially due to this reason.

I am afraid to update any of my book's information (price or description) through CS because I'm afraid it will mess up the information on Amazon (such as messing up the book description paragraph spacing on Amazon).

I read complaints about Amazon sales sometimes not showing on CS, although I can't say I have this problem or if I do, I'm not aware of it. I have also read complaints about the front cover of some books having severe curling issue, although I haven't encountered anything major myself. My two books have only been out for a month, so I'm still new to CS.

I hope that CS will address and correct existing problems before adding new features. I have been frustrated with CS a few times, but I do like their service. If it hadn't been for CS, I don't think I would have published my books.

Unfortunately, I don't see a PayPal option anytime soon, if at all. Amazon (CS) and eBay (PayPal) are competitors.

Dave: Hopefully these problems will be adjusted and corrected. It was hard for me to choose a POD to print my books due to vast number of complaints I have found across the internet on all the companies that print books. CS was the most affordable choice for me and most convenient. Some companies just like to rip people off (They might have good quality service, but too darn expensive for me to care.). When I say this I could be wrong but CS is a relatively new service, so I would think as time goes it will get better. Unfortunately with times like these I hope my previous statement will come true. I personally would pay a little more for shipping for books so they do not get damaged. I ship animals and other items that are quite expensive in insulated boxes to protect my merchandise (I don't need that for books, it's just an example). Unfortunately due to careless handling of USPS, I have reverted to using more expensive shipping methods without having to many issues. Honestly, although minor, I be quite pissed about the minor damages on the books. I plan to do reptile shows in the future to sell my book, as my book is a fully illustrated, color guide on Poison Dart Frogs and if I sell books slightly damaged I might not be able to sell them. All these issues must be address and changed. I can handle mediocre customer service as I, as well as the rest of the country has been unfortunately been treated this way to he point we are all used to it and accept it. How sad, but I would hope that CS is more interested in frequent and loyal customers rather than one hit wonders and never see their customers again. There is one thing I do know is that there are several companies out there who browse their community boards to see what they can do to help better for their company, but I am unsure if CS is doing this.

A note to CS, if you are watching. It would be a crying shame and a missed opportunity for CS or Amazon.com not use Paypal as a payment option for their customers. Millions of users and millions of dollars to be made by just adding this service and advertising this option (I have found a few books on Ebay that have Amazon.com as part of advertisement in either a header for an ad or within the ad contents. I have also found Amazon.com selling books on Ebay. So you are already helping, indirectly advertising each others service by allowing your customers do it for you.). If Amazon.com is too proud a company to use Paypal due to the fact that their Competitors own the service, so be it, but remember who keeps CS and Amazon.com alive, which is us. I have said it before, sometimes using a service that one's own competitors provide can generate more money than what is lost using the service. For example, if one company uses Fedex as their shippers and this company's competitor uses the same shipper (and service is great) I wouldn't think they change it because of that reason (minor example, maybe not proving my point possibly). So why not spend a little and make a whole lot more. There are several payment groups out there, I tend to find Paypal to have the cheapest rates for us the customer, but as long as I have this option available to me, whether it be Paypal or another company, myself as well as thousands of others would greatly appreciate this service.

I think anything is possible regardless if it is just a point that a competitor is the owner of the service that is popular. Companies sometimes use their competitors services to better themselves. It is not often enough that I see this being done, as cooperate America wants to rule all things (in my pessimistic opinion, Walmart does.). BUT all I am trying to get at, in my original statement is that we need a way for multiple author projects to have a way to split royalty checks. If CS doesn't want to do it themselves, which it might be more cost effective not too, then provide a service like "Paypal" so it is easier for their customers to do this. I have seen it in other companies and they should seriously think of doing this as well. This will not only help themselves bring in more customers who are willing to pay a higher price somewhere else because this option is available. As a businessman myself, they are losing tons of money not having this option. Regardless if they use "PayPal" or not, or use another service like the one you mentioned. They would be opening more doors than closing them.

CS issues cheques once your after-tax royalty exceeds $20, but they aren't sent out immediately once you reach that total. Rather, they are sent out toward the end of the month after your royalty reaches that total.

Eg. you earn $30.00 is January, your tax withheld is 30%, so you receive a cheque for $21.00 at the end of February.

The tax amount might vary depending on whether you have provided CS with all the required information and if your country has a tax treaty.

If you are within the US, you also pay an $8.00 cheque fee. This is waived for international members. Direct bank deposits for US members are the preferred payment method and do not incur fees.

I'm so glad to have found this discussion. And, "thank you", Merek, for taking the brunt of it for us. I would be a 'happy camper' if I could set up a book (through CreateSpace) so that I would get what's 'mine' and a co-author could get what's 'his/hers'. Each co-author would then be free from any tax or payment entanglement with the other party. If, for example, each co-author has his/her own bank account, wouldn't this eliminate the need for using any 'payment service'? - Vintage

Createspace has a contract with the person who set up the account. They do not have a contract with your co-author, editor, proofreader, cover artist, dog groomer, or anyone else remotely involved in the project. It is a vendor/vendee relationship. The vendor, you, provides a product to the vendee, CS. CS pays you for the sales.

If you owe money to other people, then it is your responsibility to handle the accounting, not CS. Just because it is "easier for you" doesn't really mean CS should engage in additional accounting and legal headaches to appease you (and yes, there are additional accounting and legal headaches for them to consider.) You have one book, and you are overencumbered by the paperwork? CS is dealing with tens of thousands of international vendors and has to track tax law around the world. I actually sell ebooks through a different site that at one point was going to do something like this, but then dropped the plans due to the coding, accounting, and legal nightmares involved.

I would like a paypal option, but you know I have a business account with a debit card so if I want to use my paypal account to pay for something, I can. It's not really a deal breaker for me. As an aside, I doubt the ebay connection has anything to do with why CS doesn't use paypal. Mobipocket is also owned by Amazon, and they have an option to pay vendors via paypal. So it must be some other logistical reason why CS doesn't take paypal.

In fact, I don't want CreateSpace to add extra unnecessary services like this, because ultimately someone has to pay for them. I don't want to see my price go up / royalties go down to pay for more accounting staff, more printing, and more postage.